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Time to RING in List #10 as we conclude another week with a new theme:

GOING FOR THE BRASS RING

NICOLE – The girl’s playing to win. Eliminate the other female HGs, sit next to any male in the Finals, and let the female stacked Jury do their thing. Yeah, James gave her the HOH...but she earned that opportunity by hanging on for over two hours! Loved the makeup run—Alive Cooper would be proud. She follows it up with a POV win to complete the weekly double. Well done young lady! Gets additional brownie points for cleaning up the “Mess” and showing her the door. And was able to accomplish all that STILL keeping her word to James (Natalie.) Overall a banner week.

PAUL – Whereas his non-stop confrontations raised the ire of some HGs, and not to mention two Board buddies here, it was that relentless pursuit that resulted in some critical information to leak out. And when it reached Nicole’s ears it became a dam burst giving Paul (Victor) new life in the game. Volunteering as Nicole’s pawn was a savvy game move and a calculated safe risk. A Big Mess POV win was the only way it could have blown up in his face. He won’t win against Nicole, but has a decent shot against the others in his F4 pact.

SHOULD BE IN THE BOXING RING?

VICTOR- How many times will this fighter get up off the canvas? The three knockdown rule is in effect because if he gets evicted a third time—Game Over. And if we go to the scorers cards how many one-time opportunity jurors will vote for a THREE-time opportunity HG?. Whatever the final result it was an impressive and record-setting performance for this gritty competitor.

WILL THERE BE WEDDING RINGS

NATALIE – I’m STILL not sold her feelings toward James is anything more than friends—but I would like to be wrong. If I’m right I can only imagine Paulie sitting back somewhere, smiling smugly, and saying to himself, “I told you so.” If the “cute one” truly is “wearing the pants” she should have got her cute tush off the bench, straddled that Loch Ness monster, and got into James ear to not even think about jumping off that ledge.

JAMES – Last season, finding himself on the wrong side of the House, he felt the need to win every comp. This season it appears he may be guilty of overcompensation going to the other extreme. I’m not in favor of throwing a comp, but if you are going to use that approach the art of tanking a competition is to do so in such a manner no one suspects you threw it. Clearly that was not done, and this time it could haunt James & Natalie. Do yourself a favor...don’t buy that wedding ring just yet.

RING AROUND THE ROSEY

COREY – That childhood rhyme is accordant with Corey’s maturity level. It’s crazy to think he was a nanosecond photo finish away from being the first evictee of the season, and now he is poised to advance to the F4. The only possible way he wins is if Nicole professes her love for Dopey in the F2 and pleads the jurors to give him the votes. Even if that bizarre scenario should occur, I would still give him less than a 50% chance to win.

BYE BYE NOSE RING

BIG MESS – The BB House is only big enough for one nose ring—and that one belongs to Paul. Her nose got knocked out of joint when she stuck it where it didn’t belong in someone else’s business during a discussion that did not directly concern her. Not surprisingly the end result was running away in an emotional weepy departure. I’m sure her sour grapes name-calling crybaby emotional outbursts are “impressive” to an obnoxious Da’Quitter/Loser and/or to a Femi-Nazi in the Jury House, but a particular HOH this week was not impressed...so good riddance Big Mess.

Very original categorizing. On a par with Big Meech's speeches, which aren't at all pro forma either.

At this point, before we know who wins the latest HoH, it's impossible to tell who has an advantage, who is treading water, and who is at a disadvantage. And it's not all that valuable to nitpick anybody's actions, it's mostly down to numbers, and who lied to whom last.

I think this challenge lends itself to small hands, as I recall small handed people have won similar challenges in the past. But long fingers should be competitive too. For the purposes of this post I am assuming a small handed person will win, that means either James or Nat.

In any case who ever wins will surely put up one each of the other two alliances. That way, no matter who wins Veto one of the other alliances is severely weakened. But would Corey see that? Or Victor if either should win? It would probably be pointed out to them, so I think we can count on it.

If either Victor, Paul, or Corey win, the following goes out the window. This is assuming the little people prevail in this HoH comp. I may post another list on Monday.

AdvantagedJames and Nat: They would probably name Nicole and Paul, who just screwed them over big time.

Treading waterCorey and Victor: In this scenerio, if either Nicole or Paul win the Veto they would exchange places with their alliance mate.

DisadvantagedNicole and Paul: Hard to tell who will be the ultimate target, they both lied last.

Went out swinging:Big Meech: Reverted to weepy hide under the covers Meech for part of the time, but on those occasions when she emerged she went head to head with others, and did so ably. And IMO she's had the best post eviction interview with Julie. And gave her a leg up for a return engagement in a future season. Her mention of having tried to get in the BB audience had to have warmed the BB producer's cold, cold hearts.

And Big Meech. What a great sobriquet.

A NodI'm also going to give a nod to the BB Challenge designer for the elaborate challenges they've used all season. One might question the fairness (and I have) of the challenges, but one can't deny that they were elaborate, and entertaining.

Personally I think whoever has the best dexterity and possesses the most hand-eye coordination wins this current HOH competition. Hand size has little relevance to dexterity. Hayden killed this type of comp in BB12 because of his hand skills he credited by playing collegiate baseball. As a collegiate ball player I can attest to that fact as well. With that said my prediction is the current former collegiate baseball player (Corey) will dominate this competition and be our next HOH.

Of course any of the F4 winning HOH will lead to a Ho-Hum week with James/Natalie going up on the block and one of them walking out the door. Should James or Natalie pull it out I have to disagree putting up one from each pair. They should focus on just one pair, guarantee to cut that pair in half by the end of the week, and use the power to swing a F4 deal of their own with the pair they spared.

You may be right, but my thinking really had more to do with finger size (thickness) than athleticism, with smaller having more room to maneuver in the chicken wire holes, and larger fingers being more restricted. Until she dropped her egg, we saw Nat handling the challenge much easier than anyone else. But, the others had begun to catch up. So who knows.

I do remember watching guys like Austin struggle with this. I think Austin finally gave up.

Putting up one from each of both opposing alliances would guarantee that one of those alliances was weakened, and if one was pulled from the block, the other in that alliance would be a ready made replacement.

Also, the deciding vote would most likely be made by whichever of the James/Nat alliance wasn't HoH since each potential evictee would likely vote to keep their partner. The following week might be problematic, but that would be case anyway. End result is that James/Nat could pick which opposing alliance to weaken, no matter who won Veto.

An possible interesting scenario is if someone else besides Nat/James won HoH. It is likely that both of them would go up, but if one of them won Veto, then the others would have to put up one of their own. Might make for some interesting internecine warfare.

Thick fingers would be a disadvantage; but long fingers could be more advantageous. I would think Austin possesses thicker fingers which did give him problems. But if I was competing in that type of comp against a professional poker player (they all having phenomenal finger/hand dexterity watching the way they can shuffle those poker chips) I’d even consider throwing in the towel despite the excellent hands I have thanks to my baseball playing days.

You make a good point about smaller/thinner fingers being able to work through the chicken wire easier giving Natalie a great shot here. If James pretends the eggs are turkey sandwiches he would never drop a single one. HaHa. If that little dude could bottle his metabolism and sell it, he’d make 500K many times over. But I’m still not wavering from my prediction that the baseball player (Corey) will pull this one out.

”End result is that James/Nat could pick which opposing alliance to weaken, no matter who won Veto.”

Not really. Say either James/Natalie wins HOH and nominates Paul and Nicole. If either Victor or Corey wins POV they take their partner down and that partnership stays intact. The other partnership will lose a member for sure. In that case James/Nat would not be picking which alliance to weaken. Victor or Corey winning POV would determine that. That is why if James or Nat wins HOH they should not monkey around and just pick the alliance they want to break up and keep the alliance they choose to work with going forward. Just my opinion.

If someone other than James/Natalie wins I think it’s a slam dunk they both go up. If one of them wins POV you’d probably get another “volunteer” from the F4 to go up as a pawn having the necessary votes to send the other home 2-1. As I stated before would be pretty much a “Ho-Hum” week.

Larger hands usually have larger diameter fingers, smaller hands usually have smaller diameter fingers. When two fingers can fit into the hole, it makes it easier to hold the egg with one hand while the other grabs from above.

We (or at least I) don't know this about these guys, but if we knew that any of these people were good piano players with slender fingers and a hand span of an octave-plus, I'd put my money on them.

Admittedly, long fingers are advantageous for baseball pitchers, and for basketball players.

So, after watching the HoH Comp, it appears that this comp isn't finger size dependent afterall. They all were about the same, except for James. Any one of Corey, Vic, or Nat could have won with a different egg bounce. Even Paul might have won, although he had fewer chances at the third letter.

I think the producers (and America) have a clear favorite now. The odds are against her winning, but a Nat win would be popular.

Yeah, it would appear the holes in the chicken wire were conducive for all competitors regardless of finger size.

It’s hard to say for certain because we did not see the entire comp play out, but from what we saw last night it would appear Corey had the most chances. It’s funny you said egg “bounce” because employing a “bouncing” strategy was sheer stupidity. You HAD to use an egg roll approach. I realize bouncing or catapulting the egg would generate more velocity, but the risk far outweighed the reward when the egg would inevitably break on the ramp. Like DUHHH...sheer stupidity.

Although I believe a decent percentage of fans are saying it’s about time for a female winner, I think Paul and Victor were favorites this season from a proactive game-playing standpoint. We all can say James now is pretty much a goner regardless who wins POV keeping Natalie in the House. Michel made a solid assessment in his list when stating a possible scenario where both duos may allow her to skate to the F3.

On a side note, I smelt a rat when Julie went out of her way to publicly announce “there’ll be no more DEs this season.” Call me over-analytical but my first thought when hearing that was maybe a F3 for the Jury to vote. In that case should Natalie get her free pass to the F3 and that twist gets dropped on everyone, the Santa’s Elf outfit Natalie wore during the last POV comp would be quite appropriate because Christmas would come three months early for her.

Final 7 is supposed to be the deciding moment of the game but in this season of dumb twists we had two versions of the Final 7 vote. Nat and Big Meech had it right last week when they targeted the biggest threats, evicting Lazarus in the process. The rats decided that shouldn't do so we had a rerun. Nicole's decisions were both foul and fowl.

Since BB is mostly for the birds anyway, I decided to classify these rare birds in the following pecking order:

As Wise as an Owl - Paul: Last week, vultures were already circling his carcass. He should have needed to win the veto at least to survive the week but he used James' huge mistake to his advantage. His Friendship schtick has NiCorey fooled to the point where they flocked to him like birds of a feather. Unfortunately for them, Paul is a bird of prey and he won't chicken out when the right time comes.

Many hated Survivor Redemption Island because the players were much too dumb to compete against Boston Rob and the same could be said of these hamsters. The only saving grace is that the one dominating the game isn't a returning player but the one that is completely messing up the veterans' games.

The Phoenix - Victor: In Survivor So Pathetic, Oscar returned to the game twice just like everyone's new favorite Porto Rican. Seeing Oscar getting voted out three times was the only good thing of that horrible season but it doesn't look like that will happen to Victor.

Instead of the mythical bird, a better comparison for Victor Caliente would be the cat with nine lives because he looks like he swallowed the canary.

A little bird told me that he'd be unbeatable in front of the jury. Four of them wanted to be in his position so they won't hold it against him for needing multiple chances. The rest all love him. He does have a bird brain though so that could be an albatros around his neck if he is up against someone who can really talk turkey in front of the jury like Paul.

As cute as a Hummingbird: Too bad the ex-Jets Cheerleader couldn't stuff one of her pompons in James' mouth because he really cooked her goose. She had done all the work and it should have been as easy as duck soup from that point on but production decided there would be a second Final 7 and then James uttered his fateful words.

Her only chance would be to see James walk out the door because then the two remaining pairs should target each other. One pair may think that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush so if the HoH and the veto at F5 are won by members of different duos then Natalie would become the key vote. That could earn her a ticket to the F3 and who knows? She could clip someone's wings at the last minute.

As Crazy as a Loon - Corey: It's hard to admit that his 1000000000 answer was smart when you consider his body of work. I think he simply wanted to bow out of the competition so that saving Nicole was purely an accident. Imagine the Big Mess: Nicole would have been eliminated and Michelle would have been one right answer from the veto.

When James offered him to take the $5K bribe to sit out the next HoH comeptition, Corey should have jumped on the occasion but instead he thought James was trying to outwit him. It showed that Corey has some awareness of his limitations but it was such a great opportunity that he shouldn't have let it slip through his fingers. He seeked counsel from Nicole though so the mistake isn't his own.

Chicken-livered and as silly as a goose - Nicole: That was simply an unforgivable mistake. I want to think that she can't be that dumb, that production somehow "guided" them into their decision to give the $5K to Victor (hell, maybe they realized they needed to save James from his own stupidity.) but I doubt it.

Now Nicole has to sit quietly by the chicken coop with sweaty pits while watching James compete for HoH. Her paranoia is completely destroying her game. Yes, James mentioned that Natalie wanted to eliminate Corey but players often do that. In the end, Corey wasn't voted out so she should have talked it out with James instead of handing the game to Paul (and Victor). "The most boringest" HoH ever was in a great position but she made a big mess of it by going after the only unattached player in the house instead of the one with the best game.

A Dead Duck - James: Not only did he give up on a competition designed for him but he ASKED to be bribed out of the next one!?!? I thought that the bribe was a silly twist because no one would accept it unless they were going to do the deed anyway but James proved me wrong! He is dumber than I could even imagine! And some people on this board still argue with me on that!

James was relying on Natalie and Michele to keep him safe, completely out of the loop about the game being played, both figuratively and litterally, over his head. If the HoH is cooped in her room talking to three people and none of them is you then you have to know that they are not on your side. A vet should have been aware of that rule. I hope he gets a few dates with Natalie out of this because that's all he'll get from his 2nd attempt.

As Dead as the Dodo - Big Meech: Too bad, we lost a fun player. Of course she spent too much time under the covers sulking but when she made a presence she was terrific. I really liked the fact that Big Meech stole Paul's rubber ducky. The super fan must have sensed that the audience had grown tired of that schtick! I especially appreciated that she dressed up for the big occasion. Very pretty woman.

Until he is asked after the show if he was serious about his $5K deal with Corey, I have to believe that James was just toying with him, and wouldn't have accepted the deal. James the prankster at work on Corey and Nicole. IMO.

That Corey didn't attempt to take James up on his offer did show to James and the world (again) the lack of depth of Corey's cognitive powers.

James told us in confessional that he really wanted the $5K. Besides, James loves his pranks so much that he doesn't let them fall flat so we would have heard some sort of "bazinga!" from him if it was a joke.

Corey didn't take him up on it. Therefore there was nothing to Bazinga.

I'm not willing right now to confuse Diary room 'interviews' with 'Confessionals". How many time have we seen them make false 'confessions' in the DR? Not to say it's impossible that James was serious, he may have been convinced that they were in a safe alliance with Nicole and Corey and felt safe enough to risk throwing the HoH, but he did express concerns that Nicorey was going to double cross them, so I can't escape the feeling that he was just either trying to prank Corey or feeling him out to see how Nicorey would react.

Kingfish is on the money with this call. No way on God’s Green Earth James takes the bribe to throw the next HOH. Actually I think it was a good call to give the money to Victor. I think his tearful appreciation was genuine and not acting. Victor has mastered pretty much every competition discipline thus far, so why not add hand-eye coordination to his repertoire as well. If so and he should keep his competition dominance going and win this HOH comp, with this appreciation still fresh on his mind, no way he even considers nominating Corey or Nicole.

Not sure if I’m reading your assessment correctly that Production decided on a battle-back only last week because Victor was evicted. I believe they formatted the game to have this battle-back when the 5th Juror was voted out even before the season started not having any idea who the five jurors would be. But I realize that would not fit into a conspiracy theory.

The POV comp has been recycled several times over. Even a moderate fan would be privy to both tactics used before: 1) Highball (or lowball) a ridiculous guess to sacrifice yourself for your partner/alliance’s benefit, or 2) continue to fold early on to keep oneself in the game and hopefully run the table to victory in the end.

Corey copycatting tactic #1 did prevent Big Mess from her second candy cane. But Paul copycatting tactic #2 prevented HIMSELF from having two candy canes and the advantage at that stage of the comp. Point being we could both spin our woulda, coulda, shoulda scenarios to hypothetically put different players in a more favorable position.

You could criticize Nicole for her target being motivated primarily for personal reasons. But as long as it prevented another Spenser or Victoria from being carried to the F3, I’m fine with that. For a complete Mess hiding under the covers when she should have been fighting for her BB life to call Nicole’s HOH “boring” has absolutely no merit whatsoever. Had Nicole kept the Mess and eliminated the player with the best game, she would have unleashed the player with the best competition prowess...quite possibly the best who ever lived in the BB House. In that scenario if Victor wins the next HOH he WITHOUT QUESTION joins forced with James/Natalie/Mess and Nicole/Corey’s game is all but over.

No, I wasn't saying the juror's return was a last minute decision but that the players found out at the last minute. All their hard work in breaking up the Paul/Victor pair were for nothing because of another dumb twist.

We are talking about Corey here so no, I do not believe his was a fully calculated move. Big Meech lost because of a dopey move by someone else. There's nothing she could have done to prevent it. Paul lost because of his OWN dopey tactic. Huge difference so my spin is better than your spin!

If you are so afraid of Victor then you should remember that Nicole could have replaced Big Meech by the challenge beast and he'd be out the door a third time and he couldn't unleash anything anymore! Nicorey, Jamalie and Big Meech would have been united against Paul who has been less than impressive in winning comps. Nicole gave the game to the opposing duo.

Implementing the ADS has got to be one of the easiest tactics to employ. Hard work would be mano a mano...outperform them...and advance. A big part of the reason Anti-Darwining Victor was unsuccessful was because of the shameful casting debacles who GAVE UP!!! What a pathetic exhibition of QUITTING...a real travesty.

I absolutely believe Corey knew what he was doing. Not because of any intelligence level but because, as I stated in my post, it has been done before and a fan of the show would be privy to that tactic. Paul’s tactic was used before too so it was not his OWN tactic. This is what happens when competitions are recycled. Big Mess got evicted because of needless name-calling to Nicole...when the crybaby ranted and insulted a HG who ACTUALLY VOTED FOR HER TO STAY eviction night.

By eliminating another possible Spenser or Victoria it did open the door for Paul/Victor. But both will still need to make the most of that opportunity through proactive play. So if either or both make the Finals they will still need to earn it. Sparing Big Mess would be a perfect example of GIVING the game to someone. The Mess would have been gifted a Golden Pass to the F3.

PS. That was the best comp ever. Can't believe Dopey won it. In fact, I have serious doubts about his victory. If you look carefully, he shuts the door and IMMEDIATELY goes to the pipes. There had to be someone instructing him because he never even looked at the drain yet he knew right away that he needed those pipes???

Please don't quote Paul (this Paul) and use him as a source of all-knowing truth. He has opinions, and from what we've seen, very biased opinions. He has picked up his game a bit from when he went psycho, and he is perceptive, but he is repugnant. So stop that.

Now that he and we can look back in hindsight, we can see that James guessed wrong. James beat himself up, Nat is dumping on him, and in truth he did guess wrong. It happens that way sometimes. But Paul is wrong, James is an intelligent little guy, and some of his guesses have been right on.

Want to give a delayed pat on the back to Big Meech for ridding us (forever I hope) of Pablo, and I want to join you Michel in you appreciation of that last reward. Original, fun, and a decent test. I agree that Corey's win is suspicious, and I also think he may have had some help. But I was thinking that Nat went to the solutions as if she also had had some help.

Final comment: I forgot to mention Corey's mention of a tater totter. I can appreciate a slip of the tongue, but with Corey, I believe he really thinks it's a tater totter.

When Paul said it, Victor, Nicole and Corey agreed. Anyway, I'm not asking you to agree, I'm just saying that I am no longer alone!

I believe a veto win by either James or Nat would have been bad for ratings. Tonight, SeeBS has to compete with the NFL on NBC so they want some suspense for the vote which would have been killed if one of the two had been saved. Now, they have the drama of the love birds being nominated.

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